Spread the Word

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Contributor's Note

I’ve always been fascinated by how accepted scientific dogma can change with time or with the accumulation of new information. I remembered learning in school that pregnant women were more susceptible to malaria, with the thought being that they were somehow immunologically more susceptible. So I was fascinated when I read a paper that made perfect sense—it wasn’t a difference in immune function, but merely that during pregnancy women were more likely to leave the protection of their bed netting at night due to the inevitable urinary frequency that occurs as the bladder is compressed. This poem tries to make that scenario feel real.